HURRICANE IRENE DISPLACES OVER 11,657 ON HAITI, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
(Borneo Post) - By Xinhua
SANTO DOMINGO - Hurricane Irene has left nearly 11,657 people displaced in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and put eastern Cuba on alert, Xinhua news cited authorities in the three countries as saying today.
The Miami-based US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Irene is an “extremely dangerous storm” which is expected to strengthen. The storm was by late Tuesday afternoon moving over the Hispaniola Island with sustained winds of 150 kph.
In the Dominican Republic, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti, the Emergency Operations Center (COE) said 11,157 people had been displaced while 45 communities had been flooded and one person was reported missing.
Civil defense authorities had moved most of the displaced out of the risk zones to safe areas prior to the expected landfall of Irene, which currently is a Category 2 hurricane.
Some 1,300 tourists were included in the number of the displaced, a COE official said.
The tourists were evacuated from the hotels known as the Cataluna, Gran Domicus and Dominicus, all located in the eastern tourist cities of La Romana and Higuey which have been out of contact since about midday Tuesday when the telecommunications systems broke down.
All flights to and from the Dominican Republic continue to be canceled.
In neighbouring Haiti, meanwhile, about 500 people were evacuated after the heavy rains flooded large areas in the northern part of the island nation, according to Alta Jean Baptiste from the Civil Protection Service (DPC).
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